Child trafficking still rife in Ghana
Gilbert Boyefio
11/11/2006
Human trafficking could be fought more effectively if Ghana ratified the Palermo Protocol and strengthened existing local laws, according to a concept paper written by the Legal Resource Centre.
Currently, the trafficking of children and women through Ghana for forced labour and sexual exploitation remains a major problem.
The International Organisation for Migration estimates that the number of trafficked children working in fishing villages along the Volta Lake is in the thousands.
According to an extract from the US State Department on trafficking in persons report in June this year, Ghana as is a "source, transit and destination country" for trafficking - with children trafficked within the country as domestic servants, cocoa plantation labourers, street vendors, porters, for work in the fishing industry, and for use in sexual exploitation.
Children are also trafficked to and from Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Nigeria, and The Gambia as domestic servants, laborers, and in the fishing industry, and children and women are trafficked for sexual exploitation from Ghana to Europe, from Nigeria through Ghana to Europe, and from Burkina Faso through Ghana to Cote d'Ivoire.
It is time Government showed a firmer resolve in tackling the problem, say human rights organisations, as the non-governmental organisation Legal Resource Centre request the Ghana Government to show their commitment by ratifying the Palermo Protocol.
This request was contained in a concept paper on trafficking called, "What does Human Trafficking Mean in Ghana," written by Tuinese Edward Amuzu of the LRC.
He noted that a significant departure of the Trafficking Act from the Palermo Protocol with regard to the definition of trafficking is criminalisation, thus exploitation.
Unlike the Palermo Protocol, Ghana's current Trafficking Act does not make exploitation the main focus of criminalisation.
The Trafficking Act in section 1(1) has left out that the prohibited acts carried out through the prohibited means must be for the purpose of exploitation in order to qualify as a crime of trafficking.
Under the Palermo Protocol, the definition of trafficking is clear that regardless of the act in which the trafficker is engaged, and the means by which the trafficker takes control over the victim, the end is always exploitation of the victim.
Prosecution for the offence of trafficking would entail creating a law which would directly criminalise the activities of traffickers.
There is no doubt that trafficking violates a panoply of rights guaranteed under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, and the whole framework of international human rights, as well as several other pieces of legislation in Ghana.
In Ghana, efforts in the fight against trafficking led to the Human Trafficking Act, 2005. Ghana joined several other countries in the world in the fight against trafficking in persons in December 2005, when President John Kufuor signed the Trafficking Act into law.
The concept paper called the Trafficking Act a "welcome" piece of legislation, in the sense that it specifically made trafficking an offence.
The paper explained that "The Palermo Protocol provided the first international definition of trafficking as: the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or a position of vulnerability. Giving receiving payments or benefits to achieve control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation, are also included."
Exploitation, according to the Palermo Protocol, includes the abuse of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual mistreatment, forced labour, slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
The Palermo Protocol mandates countries that have ratified it take the necessary measures to prevent trafficking, protect and assist victims, criminalise trafficking and also build global cooperation to combat trafficking.
The Palermo Protocol and its definition of trafficking paved the way for countries to adopt a comprehensive approach to combat trafficking.
Under Ghana's Trafficking Act, as the provision of the section 1(1) stands, any recruitment the purpose of which is the "exploitation of the vulnerability" of a person, for instance, amounts to trafficking.
However, section 1(1) is silent on the end purpose of the recruitment, be it exploitation or otherwise.
It is important to note that "exploitation of the vulnerability" of a person in recruitment may be unjust and amount to a wrong, but cannot satisfy international standards for the definition of trafficking.
According to Amuzu, the concept paper is an analysis of the definition of trafficking in Ghana as provided by the Trafficking Act.
He said the paper is informed by the need to have a critical legal analysis of the Trafficking Act, identify loopholes and gaps and to propose strategies and programmes including amendments to the Trafficking Act.
The LRC in their concept paper called on the Minister of Women and Children?s Affairs, the Minister of Man Power, Youth and Employment, the Attorney General, the International Labour Organization, USAID, UNICEF, UNDP and all stakeholders who play key roles in the fight against trafficking to take a second critical look at the definition of trafficking in Ghana.
They propose an amendment to the definition to reflect that the purpose of any prohibited acts carried out through the prohibited means must be the purpose of exploitation of the victim of trafficking.
The Trafficking Act was enacted as a result of increased public awareness of the problem of trafficking in Ghana partly as a result of local media attention on the trafficking of children for exploitative work.
It was an enactment to satisfy calls at the domestic front to address the problem of trafficking.
The stimulus for the enactment of the Trafficking Act also came from the desire of Ghana to meet its international obligations under certain international instruments such as the International Labour Organization Conventions 105 on the abolition of forced labour and 182 on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour that Ghana had ratified.
Such an exploitation of the vulnerability of a person must be for the overall purpose of exploiting the victim or victims in order to amount to human trafficking. In other words, although the vulnerability of a person may be exploited in recruiting such a person to do a particular work, the overarching aim for such recruitment must be the exploitation of such a victim.
It is also noteworthy that there is no connection between the definition of exploitation in section 1(2) and the use of exploitation in section 1(1) (a). Exploitation of vulnerability in section 1(2) is just one of the prohibited means by which the prohibited acts such as recruitment, transportation or transfer of a person may be achieved.
Exploitation of the vulnerability of a person as provided for in section 1(2) does not deal with the main aim or the end purpose of exploitation by the trafficker.
The paper notes that it may be argued that section 1(1) is as broad as it is so as to cover all blameworthy conduct. Even with that in mind, it states, the definition is too broad and criminalises acts as trafficking which will not amount to trafficking in countries within the West African sub-region and beyond the sub-region.
With regards to the main object of criminalization by the law, section 1(3) of the Trafficking Act is the only part of the definition which captures exploitation as the end product of the prohibited acts such as placement for sale and bonded labour.
Section 1(3) is independent of section 1(1) and therefore its appropriate use of exploitation cannot be read to limit the scope of section 1(1) in its definition of trafficking.
11/11/2006
Human trafficking could be fought more effectively if Ghana ratified the Palermo Protocol and strengthened existing local laws, according to a concept paper written by the Legal Resource Centre.
Currently, the trafficking of children and women through Ghana for forced labour and sexual exploitation remains a major problem.
The International Organisation for Migration estimates that the number of trafficked children working in fishing villages along the Volta Lake is in the thousands.
According to an extract from the US State Department on trafficking in persons report in June this year, Ghana as is a "source, transit and destination country" for trafficking - with children trafficked within the country as domestic servants, cocoa plantation labourers, street vendors, porters, for work in the fishing industry, and for use in sexual exploitation.
Children are also trafficked to and from Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Nigeria, and The Gambia as domestic servants, laborers, and in the fishing industry, and children and women are trafficked for sexual exploitation from Ghana to Europe, from Nigeria through Ghana to Europe, and from Burkina Faso through Ghana to Cote d'Ivoire.
It is time Government showed a firmer resolve in tackling the problem, say human rights organisations, as the non-governmental organisation Legal Resource Centre request the Ghana Government to show their commitment by ratifying the Palermo Protocol.
This request was contained in a concept paper on trafficking called, "What does Human Trafficking Mean in Ghana," written by Tuinese Edward Amuzu of the LRC.
He noted that a significant departure of the Trafficking Act from the Palermo Protocol with regard to the definition of trafficking is criminalisation, thus exploitation.
Unlike the Palermo Protocol, Ghana's current Trafficking Act does not make exploitation the main focus of criminalisation.
The Trafficking Act in section 1(1) has left out that the prohibited acts carried out through the prohibited means must be for the purpose of exploitation in order to qualify as a crime of trafficking.
Under the Palermo Protocol, the definition of trafficking is clear that regardless of the act in which the trafficker is engaged, and the means by which the trafficker takes control over the victim, the end is always exploitation of the victim.
Prosecution for the offence of trafficking would entail creating a law which would directly criminalise the activities of traffickers.
There is no doubt that trafficking violates a panoply of rights guaranteed under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, and the whole framework of international human rights, as well as several other pieces of legislation in Ghana.
In Ghana, efforts in the fight against trafficking led to the Human Trafficking Act, 2005. Ghana joined several other countries in the world in the fight against trafficking in persons in December 2005, when President John Kufuor signed the Trafficking Act into law.
The concept paper called the Trafficking Act a "welcome" piece of legislation, in the sense that it specifically made trafficking an offence.
The paper explained that "The Palermo Protocol provided the first international definition of trafficking as: the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or a position of vulnerability. Giving receiving payments or benefits to achieve control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation, are also included."
Exploitation, according to the Palermo Protocol, includes the abuse of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual mistreatment, forced labour, slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
The Palermo Protocol mandates countries that have ratified it take the necessary measures to prevent trafficking, protect and assist victims, criminalise trafficking and also build global cooperation to combat trafficking.
The Palermo Protocol and its definition of trafficking paved the way for countries to adopt a comprehensive approach to combat trafficking.
Under Ghana's Trafficking Act, as the provision of the section 1(1) stands, any recruitment the purpose of which is the "exploitation of the vulnerability" of a person, for instance, amounts to trafficking.
However, section 1(1) is silent on the end purpose of the recruitment, be it exploitation or otherwise.
It is important to note that "exploitation of the vulnerability" of a person in recruitment may be unjust and amount to a wrong, but cannot satisfy international standards for the definition of trafficking.
According to Amuzu, the concept paper is an analysis of the definition of trafficking in Ghana as provided by the Trafficking Act.
He said the paper is informed by the need to have a critical legal analysis of the Trafficking Act, identify loopholes and gaps and to propose strategies and programmes including amendments to the Trafficking Act.
The LRC in their concept paper called on the Minister of Women and Children?s Affairs, the Minister of Man Power, Youth and Employment, the Attorney General, the International Labour Organization, USAID, UNICEF, UNDP and all stakeholders who play key roles in the fight against trafficking to take a second critical look at the definition of trafficking in Ghana.
They propose an amendment to the definition to reflect that the purpose of any prohibited acts carried out through the prohibited means must be the purpose of exploitation of the victim of trafficking.
The Trafficking Act was enacted as a result of increased public awareness of the problem of trafficking in Ghana partly as a result of local media attention on the trafficking of children for exploitative work.
It was an enactment to satisfy calls at the domestic front to address the problem of trafficking.
The stimulus for the enactment of the Trafficking Act also came from the desire of Ghana to meet its international obligations under certain international instruments such as the International Labour Organization Conventions 105 on the abolition of forced labour and 182 on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour that Ghana had ratified.
Such an exploitation of the vulnerability of a person must be for the overall purpose of exploiting the victim or victims in order to amount to human trafficking. In other words, although the vulnerability of a person may be exploited in recruiting such a person to do a particular work, the overarching aim for such recruitment must be the exploitation of such a victim.
It is also noteworthy that there is no connection between the definition of exploitation in section 1(2) and the use of exploitation in section 1(1) (a). Exploitation of vulnerability in section 1(2) is just one of the prohibited means by which the prohibited acts such as recruitment, transportation or transfer of a person may be achieved.
Exploitation of the vulnerability of a person as provided for in section 1(2) does not deal with the main aim or the end purpose of exploitation by the trafficker.
The paper notes that it may be argued that section 1(1) is as broad as it is so as to cover all blameworthy conduct. Even with that in mind, it states, the definition is too broad and criminalises acts as trafficking which will not amount to trafficking in countries within the West African sub-region and beyond the sub-region.
With regards to the main object of criminalization by the law, section 1(3) of the Trafficking Act is the only part of the definition which captures exploitation as the end product of the prohibited acts such as placement for sale and bonded labour.
Section 1(3) is independent of section 1(1) and therefore its appropriate use of exploitation cannot be read to limit the scope of section 1(1) in its definition of trafficking.
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